Chapter 7: This chapter deals with leisure activities. Social visits were a welcome relief from the day-to-day grind. Adults would have supper and share stories while children played, and afterward there might be a reading, singing, or storytelling. Passing visitors and new settlers were a special pleasure and were always welcome, though there were a few con men and other unsavory folk around as well.

Picnics were a favorite recreation, happening on Saturday afternoons or Sunday after church services. Everyone would bring a dish. The men might hunt buffalo or butcher hogs for fresh meat, and the children would play games and have races. Similarly, holidays were a festive occasions; perhaps the most-celebrated was the Fourth of July. On the Fourth, the blast of a cannon would announce the day, followed by a brief church service and dancing, feasts, and the harmony of a makeshift band. Fireworks...